Because I'm not enough of a geek yet.

[squeequeg]

Actually, that subject line's a lie. I tested myself on the Geek Test (at http://www.innergeek.us/geek.html) and ended up a Major Geek with a score in the mid-40s. Impressive, considering my computer and math skills are close to nil.

So. I have a lot of books on my "to read" list. But I need more.

Recommendations, anyone? What do you think I should have read by now in my brilliant career? What's on your bedside table? What's been stuck in your head for a while now? Fantasy and science fiction are my usual genre of choice for fun reading, but I'll experiment gladly.

You know, I just realized this is an inverse of sigerson's most recent post. Dammit, twin, get outta my head!

Eventually I may follow suit and post some recommendations as well. But right now I just want to see what's out there, what I've missed.

Comments

[2h2o.livejournal.com]

My Boo To Recommend this summer is _Ring of Bright Water_ by Gavin Maxwell. It's about a man's experiences on the nearly-uninhabited western coast of Scotland, focusing on his pet otters. Beautifully written and deeply moving, at least to this sappy soul. You might enjoy it just for the use of Gaellic.

[wavyarms.livejournal.com]

I think I've probably already recommended anything! But I'll think about it.

[wavyarms.livejournal.com]

Uh, recommended everything. Everything. That I would have to recommend. Right. Off to bed.

[ellinor.livejournal.com]

Since I'd imagine you've already read all the Neal Stephenson out there (I haven't read the two new ones, although I intend to), I suspect there's no reason to recommend Snowcrash. So I'll recommend Bellwether, by Connie Willis. It's not so much science fiction as fiction about science, if that makes any sense. Anyway, I really liked it.

[anacrucis.livejournal.com]

I'm always happy to recommend the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. The stories are light on plot and generally are completely lacking in any kind of "moral" and the female characters are almost as abundant and interesting as Tolkein's, but they are written with an astonishing degree of attention to period and historical detail, and the two main characters, as well as the writing (if you can get around the nautical jargon) is quite charming and for the most part humorous.

The first book in the series is really nothing more than a string of minor historical sea engagements strung together under one fictitious captain with very little in the way of plot to connect them. But it is nonetheless charming once you get a feel for O'Brian's writing style. (He has a tendency to abruptly advance the plot by hours or days in the middle of a paragraph - but eventually his selective conciceness seems a gift; in the one I'm reading now, one of the minor characters takes a page and a half to give the same explanation of the Whaleman's trade that Melville fills half a book with.) And once the series starts in earnest, it gets more interesting, and begins to include elements of espionage, intrigue, and at times farsical romance.

They don't have a great deal of redeeming cultural value, but they are fun, well written, exceptionally well researched, and difficult to put down.

(and i actually own volume 2 and 3 if you want to borrow them next time I see you)

[cincodemaygirl.livejournal.com]

I am passionately fond of Willis' To Say Nothing of the Dog, and I very much enjoyed Passage and The Doomsday Book.

[stealthmuffin.livejournal.com]

I love Willis. Ellinor, if you haven't read To Say Nothing of the Dog, you should sometime. I'll even mail you my copy if you want.

When will her next book be out? (Or are we talking a George R. R. Martin-ish timescale between books?)

[stealthmuffin.livejournal.com]

Hm. Will it hurt me to go straight to the second book without stopping at the first?

[anacrucis.livejournal.com]

they are written in such a way to be somewhat expositorialy redundant, so you don't *need* to read them in any particular order - it's just my preference to do so.

The first one - well - on the one hand, it is perhaps one of the weakest that I've read so far, but on the other, does sort of establish the main characters, their relationships to each other, and a little bit of 'where they're coming from' - and the introduction of a character named Sophie in book 2 has a little more meaning if you've just been reading all about Aubrey's first command, His Majesty's Sloop-of-war, Sophie.

But as far as the story goes, you're not missing much if you skip straight to 2.